Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) Declares Dividend Increase – $0.45 Per Share

Verisk Analytics, Inc. (NASDAQ:VRSK) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, February 19th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, March 14th will be given a dividend of 0.45 per share by the business services provider on Monday, March 31st. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.62%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 14th. This is a 15.4% increase from Verisk Analytics’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.39.

Verisk Analytics has increased its dividend by an average of 10.4% per year over the last three years. Verisk Analytics has a dividend payout ratio of 22.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Verisk Analytics to earn $7.25 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 24.8%.

Verisk Analytics Trading Down 2.5 %

Shares of VRSK opened at $290.53 on Wednesday. Verisk Analytics has a 12 month low of $217.34 and a 12 month high of $306.10. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $287.13 and its two-hundred day moving average is $279.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 8.36, a current ratio of 0.82 and a quick ratio of 0.82. The stock has a market cap of $40.75 billion, a PE ratio of 45.32, a P/E/G ratio of 3.37 and a beta of 0.89.

Verisk Analytics (NASDAQ:VRSK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The business services provider reported $1.61 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.60 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $735.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $733.55 million. Verisk Analytics had a net margin of 32.65% and a return on equity of 274.13%. Equities analysts forecast that Verisk Analytics will post 6.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Verisk Analytics news, insider Kathy Card Beckles sold 2,111 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.06, for a total value of $595,428.66. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 9,066 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,557,155.96. This trade represents a 18.89 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Bruce Edward Hansen sold 1,179 shares of Verisk Analytics stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $295.36, for a total value of $348,229.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 13,786 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,071,832.96. The trade was a 7.88 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 5,648 shares of company stock valued at $1,613,047 over the last 90 days. 0.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Verisk Analytics announced that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, February 26th that permits the company to buyback $1.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the business services provider to buy up to 2.5% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on VRSK shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Verisk Analytics from $325.00 to $321.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Barclays lowered Verisk Analytics from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $310.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Friday, January 10th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Verisk Analytics from $283.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Verisk Analytics from $280.00 to $297.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Verisk Analytics in a report on Tuesday, January 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Verisk Analytics has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $299.33.

Verisk Analytics Company Profile

Verisk Analytics, Inc provides data analytics and technology solutions to the insurance markets in the United States and internationally. It offers policy language, prospective loss costs, policy writing and rating rules, and various underwriting solutions for risk selection and segmentation, pricing, and workflow optimization; property- and auto- specific rating and underwriting information solutions that allows clients to understand, quantify, underwrite, mitigate, and avoid potential loss for risks; catastrophe modeling solutions, which enables companies to identify, quantify, and plan for the financial consequences of catastrophes for use by insurers, reinsurers, intermediaries, financial institutions, and governments.